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The Concorso Italiano was my favorite event of the Pebble Weekend a decade or so ago when I first began making the annual August pilgrimage to Monterey. Then it was situated on the gorgeous greens and fairways of the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley. The selection of cars was stunning, running the gamut from pricey and perfect vintage exotics to rare Italians in daily service. The setting was sublime, the nearby car-club parking — also on grass — made for bonus car gawking, and all was well. Popularity caused the event to outgrow that venue, forcing a move to the Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, where traffic congestion getting to and from the show became a problem, but at least the cars were still presented on grass, arrayed on rolling hills.

This year the event has relocated again, to the Kansas-flat tarmac of Marina California Airport in Monterey Bay, 10 miles north of town in Marina, California. It was kind of cool to see cars parked amongst vintage airplanes, but most of the regular attendees I spoke with lamented the news that a five-year lease had been signed in this hard, two-dimensional venue. And apparently many of the promised 800 participants decided against spending the day on a giant parking lot, because by early afternoon there were a lot of vacancies on the show field. Nevertheless, we grabbed highlights of the cars that hung in for the full day.

1906 Zust Model 28/45
The Italian entry in the 1908 New York-to-Paris race was the creation of Swiss engineer Roberto Zust. Built entirely of special nickel-chrome steel sourced from the French Steel Works, the car was built in Milan. Modifications for the race included a single wooden runningboard and a wooden storage area behind the seat for boxes of tools, spare parts, extra fuel, oil, food, and — of course — champagne! Fully loaded it weighed 3520 lb.

Study the grille of this Jeep-like conveyance and you’ll notice the shape of the Alfa Romeo shield. According to the owner, Alfa Romeo developed this design on a crash program in nine months from the time the Italian government made its request for proposals. Based largely on the 1900 Berlina sedan, it uses the same DOHC 1975cc 90-hp engine with a modified oil circuit to function on extreme grades. The Berlina’s front drive was augmented for this military operation with low-range four-wheel drive. Most were built for the military, but this example is one of 500 delivered to the police.

1959 Fiat 500 Bianchina
Bianchi was an Italian bicycle-maker that entered the car business under the name Autobianchi, building cars on other people’s chassis — most often Fiats. This cheerful little sunroof coupe is based on the lovable rear-engine Cinquecento (500). Autobianchi also made a wagon and a full convertible of this design. This example was sold new just a few miles away in Salinas, California, and the current owner bought it off a used-car lot in Monterey in 1981.

1962 Lancia Appia
This pert little sedan is full of surprises, from its narrow-angle V-4 engine with a single cylinder head for both blocks (and you thought VW‘s VR6 invented that idea!), to its sliding-pillar suspension, to its B-pillarless doors! Yes, the rear “suicide”-style door butts up against the front door, both of which latch to pins at the roof and floor. Weather sealing might not pass muster by today’s standards, and I wouldn’t want to suffer a side impact with this setup, but it sure looks cool when all the doors are open!

1967 Maserati Ghibli
This Ghibli is perhaps the purest example of Maestro Giorgetto Giugiaro’s design intent for what he claimed was his favorite design of the ’60s. It was built very early in 1967. Note the absence of the bumper overriders that came later, and the decklid design, which reached down to the rear bumper, eliminating the cutline above the taillamps. It looked better, but the modest opening angle of the trunklid made it nearly impossible to get items in and out of the trunk. The tooling was revised midyear. Other visible differences: The front marker lights moved around to different locations within the front wraparound bumper (settling in the upper corners), and the locking nuts on the wheels grew larger. Your author’s Ghibli (inset), built in December, 1967, features all the running changes.

1989 Maserati 430
I never display my Italian car with the hood up. I’ll show the attractive engine to anyone interested, but you can’t take a decent picture of the car with the hood up, and it makes it look like maybe it’s broken down. In fact, a Maserati 430 like this one stands in my memory as one of only two test cars whose engines blew during routine performance testing. The 430 was rounding its first lap of the Chrysler Proving Grounds high-speed oval en route to its two-way average-speed measurement when it suddenly lost power. I glanced in the rearview mirror and noticed that I was trailing smoke like a sky-writer. It limped back in and up to the visitor parking area, from which it was flat-bedded away to a diagnosis of traumatic ring failure. The 430 was one of the last Maseratis imported before departing the U.S. market in the 1990s.

1993 Cadillac Allante
Non-Italian-brand vehicles built in Italy or designed by Italians are also welcome at Concorso, and this one has a fun story. If your monitor doesn’t pick it up, this beauty is finished in Mountain Laurel pearl coat — yes, Mary Kay pink. A lot of 50 such cars were reportedly ordered by GM, but Pininfarina refused to build them. “We don’t make pink sports cars!” they supposedly responded. Three days of negotiations ensued before the firm relented. Most of the cars were leased for two years and returned, whereupon they were repainted white and resold. This is supposedly one of five that still bear the Mary Kay livery. The female owner is said to have brought another car in to have the radio repaired, but upon noticing this car on the lot told the dealer to keep the one with the broken radio in trade for this one.

LeMons Alfa Spider
This kluged-up and well-rumpled racer appears to have the doors of an Alfa Spider, with the busted nose of a Giulia Spider grafted on. Note the highly efficient (and well protected from further frontal damage) cooling system, mounted high above the tail. This veteran is prepared for battle in the 24 Hours of LeMons race, wherein anyone can race any car worth $500 or less (plus safety preparations). It’s tons of fun and it’s coming soon to a track near you. For more info, www.24HoursofLeMons.com.

1972 Fiat 124 wagon
It’s fun to find these humble workaday Italians in and amongst the exotics. Here we see two Fiat 124s dating from the end of their production run in Italy. Note the homely and cumbersome black 5-mph bumpers on the 1974 car in the background. The 131 succeeded the 124 at home, but this design was built all over the third world, in Russia as the Lada ???-2101 / Zhiguli, in India as the Premier 118NE, in Spain as the SEAT 124, in Bulgaria as the Pirin-Fiat 124, in Turkey as the Murat 124, in Korea as the Fiat-KIA 124, and in Egypt as the Lada 124.